Autoharp.



G. L. REYNOLDS & P. M. NIOKERSON.

AUTOHARP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1911.

Patented May 19, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

[NVE/vm/es v WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH (10-. WASHINGTON. D. c.

G. L. REYNOLDS & P. M. NIOKERSON.

AUTOHARP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1911.-

Patented May 19, 1914.

INVENTORY 05. 55M fl B Mf/M [TU] 1| HH W1 TNESSES i I W Affameyx ICOLUMBIA PLANOGBAP CD., WASHINGTON, D- C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE L. REYNOLDS AND FREDERICK M. NICKERSON,

CHUSETTS.

OF EAST BOSTON, MASSA- AUTOHAR-P. I

To all whom it may concern.

B it known that we, GEORGE L. REYNOLDS and FREDERICK M. NICKERSON,citizens of the United States, residing at East Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Autoharps, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to autoharps, and particularly relates toa structure which comprises an attachment for musical instruments of theharp type.

The primary object of the invention is to facilitate the mechanicalproduction of the principal major and minor chords on the harp oranalogous stringed instrument so that all of the major and minor chordsprovided for may be produced in each one of twelve keys.

The invention comprises essentially a carriage or frame which isshiftable transversely across the strings of the harp or. likeinstrument, said carriage having mounted thereon a series of depressiblemute bars, which latter are capable of being thrown into cooperativerelation with the strings of the instrument in a well known manner,whereby a chord or arpeggio may be produced upon the vibration of thestrings by the handof the player, or otherwise. WVhen a chord is soproduced, the strings which are muted by the application of themute-bars will be rendered inoperative, according to the structurehereinafter described.

A further object of the invention is to combine a scale indicator withthe shiftable carriage above referred to, by which means the position ofthe tones of the diatonic scale of any key may be indicated, with theshiftable carriage in any selected position to correspond with said key.

A still further object of the invention is to provide locking mechanismwhich so cooperates with the shiftable carriage that, when the carriagehas been moved to a position so that the various major and minor chordsmay be played in any selected key, the carriage may be locked in itsdesired position, and cannot be moved until a movable pin is depressed,which pin corresponds to another key in which it may be desired to 1% ora full understanding of the present invention, reference is to be had tothe fol- Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Application filed May 23, 1911.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Serial No. 628,995.

lowing description and to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a top plan view of an autoharp of ordinary form, having theimprovements comprising the present invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 isa side view of the harp, looking toward one end thereof; Fig. 3 is asectional view taken about on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. h is asectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a sectionalview taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a detail view of thedepressible lock plate which co-actg with the shiftable carriage; Fig. 7is a detail fragmentary view, showing the frame-plate having the lockingprojections which co-act with the frame plate above referred to; Fig. 8is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 4; and Fig. 9 is anenlarged top plan view of the shiftable carriage and showing moreclearly the manner of coloring the finger- ,pieces attached to the mutebars.

Throughout the following detail description and on the several figuresof the drawings, similar parts are referred to by likereferencecharacters.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes anauto-harp of ordinary construction, the same comprising a suitable baseand a series of strings 2 applied thereto in the customary manner, saidstrings being arranged to render successively the tones of the chromaticscale. A frame or carriage 3 is movable transversely with relation tothe strings 2, said frame comprising the two oppositely disposed endbars 4, 4, and the two side bars 5 and 6, the whole having approximatelya rectangular shape. Vertically disposed guide members 7, 7, the samebeing of substantially U- shape, are fastened to the base of the harp lin any suitable manner and adjacent opposite sides thereof, and betweenthe sides of the members 7 are journaled suitable rollers 8 on which theside bar '5 of the carriage is supported and adapted to be freelymovable thereover when the carriage is operated. A pin 9 passes throughthe upper ends of the two sides of one of the guide members 7 in such amanner as to prevent the dis placement of the bar 5 from the guidemember in which the pin is placed. The pin 9 also serves as a means forthe connection of an indicator 10, which indicator is, therefore, notmovable with the carriage 3. The indicator 10 is provided on its uppersurface with legends, such as are shown in Fig. 1, which indicate thepositions on the harp of the strings which correspond to the notes F, Gflat, G, etc. The indicator 10 may consist of a metal plate, or strip ofany desired material.

Projecting outwardly from the end bars 4 of the carriage 3, are a pairof brackets 11, in which is mounted a rotatable scale indi cator 12, thesame being provided with a series of spaces, which are numbered 1 to 7,throughout the length of the scale indicator. Indicator 12 comprises atransversely rectangular or otherwise polysided bar. hen the shiftablecarriage 8 is moved so that it is possible to play in any certainselected key, the scale indicator 12 will, of course, move with thecarriage 3, and the numbers 1 to 7 in the spaces thereon will indicatethe positions of the tones of the diatonic scale of such selected key,by virtue of the fact that each of the spaces will lie directly over oneof the strings of the harp. The inclicator 12 has journals at one endreceived in suitable bearings in the brackets 11, one of the bracketsbeing slotted so as to facilitate removal of the indicator when desired.One end of the indicator 12 is provided with a suitable handle 13,whereby the part 12 may be readily manipulated for purposes ofadjustment.

Between the side bars 5 and 6 of the carriage 3, are arranged aplurality of mute bars 14-, the same being substantially parallel toeach other and to the side bars 5 and 6. The mute bars 14 are mounted attheir opposite ends in guides 15 which are provided upon the inner sidesof the end bars 4. Springs 16 are employed to normally hold the bars 1%at the upper limit of their movement upon the carriage. Each of the mutebars 14 is provided upon its under side with pads which are so spaced asto damp certain of the strings when the mute bar is depressed, and allowothers of the strings to vibrate by virtue of the fact that suchvibrating strings will lie in the spaces between the pads. The pads areso arranged with reference to each other, that, by the use of each ofthe mute bars, a different chord may be produced, when the player runshis fingers over the strings of the harp. For instance, one of the mutebars will produce the chord of the diminished seventh, another a majortriad, another a minor triad, and so on. The carriage 3 being mov ableover the strings of the harp transversely thereto, it will be understoodthat each of the chords represented may be played in any one of thetwelve keys, since, inasmuch as the mute bars are incapable of endwisemovement with relation to each other, except in the peculiar mannerhereinafter described, all of the chords may always be correctlytransposed from one key to another by the movement of the carriage. Eachof the mute bars 41 is provided upon its upper side with indicatingmeans of a preferred character, in order to indicate the nature of thechord which may be obtained by depressing the particular mute bar. Forinstance, the words may be printed on each of the mute bars whichindicate the character of the chord, and it is desirable that theinitial letters of the legends of the various mute bars be in transversealinement with each other, with respect to the arrangement of the mutebars, in such a manner that such initial letters be opposite one of theletters on the indicator 10, by which means the particular key to whichthe carriage has been set will be indicated. For instance, in Fig. 1 ifwe suppose the letter M to be the initial letter of a legend whichindicates that the mute bar on which such letter M is placed willproduce a certain chord, the fact that such letter M is opposite theletter F on the indicator 10, will indicate that the carriage 3 has beenset with reference to the strings of the harp so that all of the chordswill be produced in such key of F.

In practice any number of the mute bars 14 may be employed, each one torepresent a different chord, but in the accompanying drawings we haverepresented fourteen of such bars. It is contemplated, according to thepresent invention, to permit endwise, as well as downward movement onthe part of several of said bars. By this means, each of the mute barscapable of such movement, may represent chords of different pitch, sothat when such mute bar is depressed vertically downwardly, one chord ofa certain pitch may be produced, while if the bar is pressed in anendwise direction and then depressed, a chord of a different pitch maybe produced. In order to permit of such movement, a portion of the endof the mute bar is removed, as is indicated in Fig. 9, so that a spaceis left between the end of the mute bar and the end bar 4:, wherebyendwise movement of the mute bar may be brought about, A spring 15 isinterposed in the spaces between the end of the mute bar and the end bar1 in order to maintain the mute bar in the desired position.

Each of the mute bars 14 is provided with a finger piece 17 fordepressing the same, and the said finger pieces are preferably coloredin such a manner that each color will represent a certain chord.

Projecting outwardly from the side bars 6 of the carriage 3 aresuperposed spaced frame-plates 18 and 19, in which are mounted aplurality of keys 20, the latter having the customary finger pieces attheir upper ends and being normally held upraised by means of springs 21surrounding portions of the same between the plates 18 and 19. The lowerplate 19 is formed with downwardly extending locking projections 22,which are particularly shown in Figs. 5 and 7, the said projections 22being of the same form and spaced from one another and adapted to beengaged by a detent 23 which extends upwardly from a depressiblelock-plate 24 arranged beneath the plates 18 and 19, and hinged by meansof a pintle-rod 25 to a base-plate 26, the construction being shown inFig. 6. The base-plate 26 is secured to the harp 1 in spaced relation tothe base of the latter, being direct-mounted upon short posts 27, and isformed with a rectangular opening 26 which corresponds in size to thesize of the ,depressible lock-plate 24E. Springs 28 arranged on thepintle-rod 25 normally tend to maintain the plate 24 in upraisedposition with its detent 23 engaging the respective predeterminedprojections 22, said plate 241 being adapted, however, to be readilymoved downwardly against the tension of the springs 28 by the downwardpressure of one of the keys 20. By this action, the detent 23 will bedisengaged from between the respective projections 22, permitting thecarriage 3 to be freely moved transversely with reference to the springsof the harp. The lock-plate 24 is provided intermediate its ends andsubstantially in alinement with the detent 23, with a slot 29 which iselongated so that it may receive therein the lower end of any one of thetwo rows of keys 20. It will be seen that in the formation of the tworows of keys 20, the keys of one row are arranged in preferablystaggered relation to those of the other. A post 35 is mounted on theplate 26 in such a manner that the slot 29, the detent 23, and the saidpost 35 will be in alinement, the purpose of the post 35 being toindicate to the operator the position of the slot 29, so that he willknow in what direction to move the carriage when it is desired to changefrom one key to another, when playing. Normally the carriage 3 will belocked from movement by the engagement of the detent 23 between therespective predetermined projections 22, so that the carriage will bemaintained in a desired position, making it possible to play in anyselected key until the carriage is shifted. Such shifting movement ismade possible by the depression of any one of the keys 20. It will beunderstood that each of the twelve keys 20, corresponds to a certain keyof the scale, and accordingly each key is provided on its upper surfacewith an indication of the key of the scale to which it corresponds, allof which is shown in Figs. 1 and 9. WVhen one of these keys 20 isdepressed, the carriage being locked by the engagement of the detent 23between the respective projections 22, and it being assumed that a keyhas been selected for depression which corresponds'to the key of thescale in which it is desired to play, the lower end of such selected keywill engage the plate 24 and move the latter downwardly a sufficientdistance so as to disengage the detent 23. So long as the key is helddepressed in contact with plate 21, the Plate 2 1 will remain depressed,thus permitting the carriage 3 to be moved transversely of the harp 1for adjustment of the carriage. Such transverse movement of the carriage3, as thus described, is permitted until the lower end of the depressedkey reaches the slot 29, whereupon said slot will receive the lower endof the key and permit the lock-plate 24 to immediately spring upwardly.Upon such upward movement of the lock-plate 24, its detent 23 willengage between the respective locking projections 22 and lock thecarriage from further movement. The carriage will thus be held inposition so that the playing can be performed in the key which wasselected, so long as the carriage is held in such position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that by virtue of the structuredescribed, the carriage 3 is mounted at one side upon the guide members7, while the opposite side of the carriage carrying the frame-plates 18and 19 is normally supported by the lower ends of the projections 22resting upon the base-plate 26 and capable of sliding freely over thesurface thereof when not held by detent 23.

By the means described for locking the carriage 3 in position, theadjustment of the carriage will permit of very accurate playing of thedesired chords. As has been stated before, the coloring applied to eachone of the finger-pieces 17 will afford a ready means of identifying tothe player the position of a certain chord, so that the nature of thechord having been identified with a certain color by means of a chart,it will not be necessary for the player to be guided by printed legendsindicating the chords on the mute bars. For this reason it is notabsolutely necessary that any printed indication of the character of thechords appear on the mute bars, other than one or two letters on eachbar. The scale indicator 12 is provided with legends which denote thetones of the strings over which they are placed so as to cooperate withthe indicating means carried by the mute bars to denote the scale withwhich the adjustment of the carriage corresponds.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In combination a stringed instrument and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely of the strings of theinstrument, mute bars mounted on the carriage for cooperating with saidstrings,

means for mechanically controlling the eX- tent of movement of thecarriage, said controlling means comprising a lock for the carriage, andmeans for releasing the lock and for automatically rendering the lockagain effective.

2. In combination, a stringed instrument, and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable across the strings, mute bars on thecarriage for cooperation with the strings, a member normally locking thecarriage in a predetermined position, means for releasing the carriage,and means for restoring the effective locking action of the lockingmember for relocking the carriage in a predetermined position.

3. In combination, a stringed instrument, and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely of the instrument, bracketsmounted on said carriage, a scale indicator sustained by said brackets,and mute bars carried by said carriage, said mute bars being mounted tobe depressed into cooperative relation with the strings of theinstrument, each mute bar bearing a legend indicating the chord to whichthe mute bar corresponds, and said scale indicator having indicationscorresponding to the notes of the diatonic scale.

l; In combination, a stringed instrument and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely with relation to the stringsof the instrument, mute bars carried by said carriage, each of said mutebars being provided with means which indicate the chord. correspondingto the mute bar, and an indicator having a fixed position with relationto the movement of the carriage, said indicator being provided withlegends which denote the tones of the strings over which they areplaced.

5. In combination, a stringed instrument and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely of the instrument, mute barsmounted on the carriage for cooperation with the strings of theinstrument, a lock member for normally preventing movement of thecarriage, and keys engaging the locking member for releasing thecarriage and controlling movement thereof.

6. In combination, a stringed instrument and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely of the instrument, mute barsmounted on the carriage for cooperation with the strings of the instrument, locking mechanism for the carriage comprising a depressible lockplate, a detent carried by said plate, obstructions on the carriageadapted to be contacted by said detent, and keys on the carriage fordepressing the lock plate to release the detent from said contact.

7. In combination, a stringed instrument and an attachment thereforcomprising a carriage movable transversely of the instrument, mute barsmounted on the carriage for cooperation with the strings of theinstrument, locking mechanism comprising a base plate, a depressiblelock plate thereon, locking projections carried by the carriage, adetent on the lock plate, spring means normally holding the lock platein a raised position causing cooperation of its detent with one of thelooking projections, the lock plate having a slot, and keys, each one ofwhich is adapted to depress the lock plate to release the carriage fromthe detent, said keys being adapted to engage the slot of the lock plateto permit the detent to be automatically reongaged with a lockingprojection.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures in presence of twoWitnesses.

GEORGE L. REYNOLDS. FREDERICK M. NICKERSON.

Witnesses:

FRANK Mon'rnN PUsHAW, EDWARD L. HoEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G.

